Maija löytää sävelen

Famous director Matti Kassila's breakthrough film can perhaps be said to have been his fifth feature Radio tekee murron (1951), but his earliest works seem to be very watchable as well, at least judging from his third and fourth films Maija löytää sävelen from 1950 and Lakeuksien lukko from 1951.

The bulk of the plot is told as a flashback when a string quartet of middle-aged men starts reminiscing how a certain composition became dedicated to a girl named Maija: Maija Lehtinen (Leena Häkinen) is originally a spirited but uneducated young woman with no family or place to stay. After a classical musician Evald Orasto (Arvo Lehesmaa) spots her on a street, he invites her to his home and offers her a job as the maid of his family that consists entirely of musicians of different kinds. She is initially reluctant to accept the job, but grows to like the family more over time, even falling in love with Evald's composer son Erkki (Martti Katajisto). However, after the family's old conductor friend Reino (Thure Bahne) comes to visit them, secrets from her shady past put her position at risk.

I had heard the film being advertised as a musical comedy, so at first I was a little disappointed at the lack of catchy songs and comical situations. Nevertheless, as soon as I realized the film is actually a serious drama, I started appreciating it more. Even though the narrator's voice sounds naive and the storytelling drags a little at points, I liked the general atmosphere of the tale. The melodramatic final scenes (featuring a bout of amnesia among other things) do come across as a tad campy, but on the other hand the symphonic concert climax looks and sounds very nice. I also enjoyed the bright lighting as well as the street views of old Helsinki and wouldn't have minded to see more of the latter. The score by Ahti Sonninen is very good too, as can be expected in musician movie like this one.

Admiring beautiful actresses in old movies is one of my favourite hobbies, so I was delighted to watch Leena Häkinen in the lead role as Maija, even if her transformation from naughty to nice has been written kind of sudden and feels rushed in the movie. The doll-faced Martti Katajisto as Maija's fateful love interest Erkki does a good too, as does Eine Laine playing the former opera diva grandmother Ester, even though I just can't get the lovable Suomisen perhe movies out of my mind whenever seeing her.

I understand that Maija löytää sävelen may not hold up in rigorous critical examination, but I have a soft spot for charming little movies like it, so I cannot leave it with a low rating. It is true that Kassila went on to make movies that are both funnier and better executed than it, but in my opinion Maija deserves a place among the better Finnish films of its era too.